The evening went about as poorly as it could have for fans of D.C. United, as the Chicago Fire topped visiting Chivas USA 1-0 to clinch the second spot in the Eastern Conference and Marathon beat Jabloteh 4-2 to knock DCU out of CONCACAF Champions League play.
United must now win at Kansas City and hope for a few key results from other teams in order to advance to the MLS Cup playoffs. Six teams will now vie for the two remaining playoff spots.
Marathon's win vaulted the Honduran side past D.C. in the Group B standings and into second place, which means the tournament is over for the Black-and-Red. United finishes with a very respectable 3-2-1 record (10 points) and with the most points of any MLS team in Champions League - Columbus (8 points) advanced out of Group C, while Houston (7 points) fell short in Group A.
Marathon joins what will be eight total teams in the knockout stage of the tournament. Here are the teams that have advanced, with only one more match yet tonight set to determine the final team:
Group A
Pachuca
Arabe Unido
Group B
Toluca
CD Marathon
Group C
Cruz Azul
Columbus Crew
Group D
Pumas
W Connection or Comunicaciones
United will train tomorrow morning at RFK Stadium, before departing for KC and the final game of the regular season. We'll be back with an updated playoff picture tomorrow.
